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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Feeling Lucky?

I was shopping for some new beers to share with you all and I stumbled across a bottle that I had to have.

Not because I’d had it before. And not because it had a great buzz happening in the social media realms. Quite the opposite in-fact.

I’d never heard a peep on this brew. I have never seen it on a store shelf, and given the uniqueness of the bottle, I’m pretty sure I’d remember it!

The Lucky Buddha is a 4.8% lager from the Zhejiang province in China, comes in an emerald green bottle shaped like Buddha. The thing honestly reminds me of an early ’80’s aftershave bottle.

Pouring thin and without head, I was pretty sure of what I was getting into here. The off copper color is actually quite pleasing for a beer that I expected to look like water.

The nose is of rice and a hint of unrecognizable hop. There is a sweet note that reminds me of when we kept grain for the chickens.

Almost wanting to hold my nose as I took the first sip, I’m pleased to report that I have “Green Bottle Beer” that IS NOT SKUNKED! WOW! That just doesn’t happen very often!

The flavor is a relatively nice mix of corn and other grainy flavors. The mouth feel is quite different than indicated by the pour, and actually has some body to it. This is not really a “Light” lager, but I wouldn’t call it full bodied either.

The sweet citrus finish is quite a unique thing. It eventually gives way to a metallic burnt toast sort of thing.

Letting the beer warm up doesn’t help at all, and actually increases my mental image of a half pitcher of beer on a bar as the sun comes up. It’s not stale, but it has some nuances that make me think “STALE BEER”.

I’m not really sure what is going on with the supply line of this beer, but I suppose it’s an interesting story. It’s brewed in China, by an Australian company and imported by another company based in Carlsbad, CA.

The companies website, luckydrinkco.com is nauseating at best, gives little to no information on their beer and makes a bunch of noise. My favorite part is where it touts that Lucky Buddha is brewed with “Drinkable water” from a lake. WOW! This IS premium beer!

Ugh.

Well, It was only $1.88 for the bottle, I only bought one, and you just helped me drink it. So I would not say that all is lost, but I wouldn’t say this is a good beer either! On the Kahuna Scale of 1-10, I’d give this one a solid “Meh!”

The bottle is easily the best part of this beer, but I wouldn’t turn one down if offered. I just wouldn’t probably buy another one.